The method belongs to the technical field of papermaking wastewater recycling methods and relates to a method for recycling and purifying papermaking wastewater. The method includes: adding modified bentonite into the wastewater, stirring, adding a polymeric flocculant and polyacrylamide (PAM), wherein the adding amount of the modified bentonite is 200-300mg/L, the adding amount of the polymeric flocculant is 6-144mg/L, and the use amount of the PAM is 4-5mg/L; the modified bentonite is bentonite acidized by sulfuric acid, and the polymeric flocculant is epichlorohydrin and dimethylamine polymer. The method has the advantages that the cheap bentonite is modified and matched with the epichlorohydrin and dimethylamine polymer during use, low comprehensive cost is achieved, and raw material preparation and an application method are simple and practicable; a small amount of the flocculant can evidently lower the TDS, conductivity and COD of the wastewater, and the recycling times of the papermaking wastewater are increased greatly.